


Sugar and Spice

by Beleriandings



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Awa arc, Food, Friendship, Gen, brief appearances by all of the main cast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 14:32:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7577839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shin-ah is given as gift, as thanks for his part in saving Awa. His task now is to share it with his new friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sugar and Spice

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Shin-ah + sweet.

Shin-ah sat down in the courtyard off one of the side streets, drawing his fur up about himself and listening to the laughter, music and shouts that filtered towards him from the harbour. He was sitting on the flat railing of a little covered walkway behind a row of shops, and Ao came and nuzzled at his fingers, until he let her scamper up his arm to sit on his shoulder. 

He would go back to the celebrations in a moment, he told himself. Once he had had a break from the noise and crowds of the last night and day, he would return to the dockyard where the second impromptu party was now in full swing. In truth they had barely stopped since the battle had been won. He was glad, at least, that the princess seemed to be enjoying herself; she deserved that much, and more, after all. So did all the others. 

Yet still, he needed a little silence and clear air. The sea - beautiful as it was - still unsettled him just a little at times, with its wide endless expanse. Even he couldn’t see the other side. Besides, there were too many people, too close together. He knew his friends would understand. 

“Excuse me Sir…?”

A quiet voice from behind him made him start, his hand flickering reflexively to the hilt of his sword for just a moment, before he quickly dropped it again. 

It was a girl, he saw, only a little older than Yona. She wore a neatly tied, flour-dusted apron and her hair was bound back with cloth, and in her hands was a basket. Her eyes were shy and wary as she stepped out of the sliding doors at the back of one of the shops behind him.

He lowered his hand, getting up and bowing hastily, realising he was probably not supposed to be in a place like this. “S… sorry…”

“Ah! No, no, don’t go! Stay! Please… I mean… if you want to… I’m Jin-ri, I make cakes and sweets at the Golden Sun, back there…” she pointed over her shoulder and flushed a little. “Um… I was wondering, are you one of those brave strangers who saved Awa from Yan Kumji?”

He tilted his head, thinking about this. He supposed he was one of them. The thought made him feel very warm inside. He nodded slightly. “Mm.”

She smiled. “Oh! Well, then I wanted to say… thank you.” She laughed nervously. “This town was a terrible place before, with the officials doing as they pleased and the slavers taking women and children. Now we’ve got a chance to make things better, and it’s thanks to you and your friends.”

He hadn’t really done so much, he wanted to say; it had been Yona and Yoon mostly. It was they that should be receiving praise and thanks. But before he could think of a way to put this into words, Jin-ri was speaking again.

“So, really, what I wanted was to give you something… as a gift.” She held out the basket. “It’s not much, but please, share them with your friends, with my thanks.” 

Shin-ah accepted the basket with a small bow. Curiously, he looked through the cloth covering, to see a number of small, brown, round objects. “What… what is it?”

“Ah… you have to take the cover off” she said, with a shy giggle. _Ah, yes_. He still forgot things like that sometimes. But as she drew back the cloth, a strange and beautiful smell came from the basket, making him gasp a little. 

She smiled proudly. “Fire cakes! They make them in the Fire Tribe lands for festivals, I heard, but I just make them because they taste good. My sister married a spice merchant from Saika, and she taught me how. They get the spices from the Kai Empire, but luckily you can get anything here in Awa.” 

Shin-ah bowed once more. “….Thank you.” He took a cake - sticky with honey, its top baked golden and printed with a little star shape, and very small, he could have eaten one is a single bite - and cautiously smelled it, still not recognising the spices. Then he took a tiny bite. 

It was delicious, and entirely unlike what he had expected, so much so that he smiled in surprised delight, warm spice flavours - _ah so that was why it was called a fire cake_ \- filling his mouth, heating his throat. 

It was very sweet, too; sweet was still not a flavour he was completely used to. He had some memories, from when he was very young, of Ao bringing home fruit in the summer, a yellow pear or a plum when times were good. That had been sweet, but in all those years after in the caves there had been nothing like that, and nothing like this. 

He looked back. Jin-ri was still staring at him expectantly. 

“It’s good!” 

“Thank you!” she blushed once more. “Please, share them with your friends! It’s all I can do to say thank you.”

He smiled, and nodded his thanks to her. 

Shin-ah finished his cake as he wandered back to the docks, taking small bites and licking his fingers, suddenly in a much better mood. Ao munched on a cake, pausing only to clean her whiskers.

He looked down at the basket in his hands. _To give to his friends_. Before him stretched strings of the lanterns that had been put up along the side of the harbour, and there was the dockyard which had been cleared as a makeshift dancefloor, alive with townspeople and pirates and traders alike, dancing and drinking or simply milling around in little groups amid bursts of laughter. 

Now, where _were_ his friends in all of this? 

He spotted Yoon first, a little away from the party. The boy had come to the celebrations late, Shin-ah knew, as before he had been tending the wounded after the battle. Yoon looked weary as well as happy, he thought. 

Shin-ah sat down on the bench beside him and silently held out the basket. 

“Oh, Shin-ah? What’s this?” Yoon peered down, before a moment later his eyes lit up. “Is this what I think it is? Fire cakes? Really?” he grinned, and took one, taking a bite. “Mm, yes, and they’re great ones too!” He smiled a little sadly. “There was a lady in the village where I was born who used to make these for all the orphan kids every Spring Fire festival. Come to think of it, I’ve no idea how she managed to get the ingredients, with the famine and the shortages. Must have cost a fortune. But she always did, without fail….” he frowned. “Until one year she stopped. I don’t know what happened to her, but I suppose she died of the sickness…” 

Shin-ah didn’t know what to say to that, so he just shuffled a little closer to Yoon. 

Yoon smiled again at that. “Old memories. Still, these are lovely, thank you, Shin-ah. Perfect amount of ginger. I’ve been thinking that the next time we stop I should make you all something sweet myself actually, but the honey I bought seems to have disappeared, somewhere over the last few days. It’s a pain, but it can’t be helped.”

Shin-ah nodded, they were silent, sitting side by side and watching the celebrations for a while, before Shin-ah rose to his feet. He still had a task to finish, after all. 

He spotted Jae-ha next; he was dancing with one of the girls from the town, spinning her around until she was laughing and breathless, doing ostentatious leaps that could possibly pass for a normal human’s, had they not been just a fraction too high. 

Jae-ha seemed to revel in his power, every moment of it; Shin-ah wondered what that would be like. _He doesn’t need to hide here_ , Shin-ah realised at once. _He’s found a place where he doesn’t need to hide, and people he trusts. A home, even_. 

Yet, where before Jae-ha’s dragon blood connection to him had felt strange, indistinct and fleeting - as though Jae-ha had been trying deliberately to shut it off - now Shin-ah felt the other dragon’s presence as strongly and clearly as he did Kija’s. 

That was interesting, too.

Yet, for all Jae-ha had grown to trust him as an ally and a fellow dragon warrior as they had fought side by side, Shin-ah was still a little wary of the man. He was strange, and Shin-ah couldn’t say he really understood him. And so he hung back for a little while, waiting. 

The music came to a pause, the current dance ending. The dancers all bowed to each other, or burst into laughter, or fell into one another’s arms. Jae-ha bowed with a flourish and kissed his dance partner’s hand courteously, a gaggle of her laughing friends and several of the pirate crew clustered around him, all pressing closer. But he was not looking at them; he had turned away from the dancers, looking at Shin-ah, and now he strode towards him. 

“Come to find me, Shin-ah?” said Jae-ha, with his usual languid, self-assured smile. “Well, I am a beautiful sight, it makes sense that the dragon’s eyes should be drawn towards me. But you know, they do say that your eyes are the _most_ beautiful sight this world has to show. I should love to see them, to compare… to study the competition, if you like…”

“No.”

“Ah, that’s cold. You know, Shin-ah dear, since I won’t be travelling with you, it might be my last opportunity to - ” 

Shin-ah shook his head vehemently, taking a step back and clutching the horns of his mask. 

Jae-ha sighed dramatically, taking a sip of sake from his cup on the table at his side. “Ah, well, it was worth a try. Still, fair’s fair, and you owe me a look for all the standing and staring at me that you’ve been doing.” He smiled, tapping a finger on the side of his cup. “I won’t forget, you know.”

“Have this.” Shin-ah held out the basket. 

“Ah, what is it? A gift?” 

Shin-ah nodded, as Jae-ha reached into the basket, taking a sweet cake. “This is delicious” he said, wiping a little honey from his lip with a finger, licking it clean. “You know, Shin-ah? That’s good enough for me, for tonight.” And suddenly, Shin-ah felt a little more at ease. “Now” Jae-ha brightened once more. “Would you like to join our dance? I’m sure some of these lovely ladies - or fine young men if you prefer - would be _delighted_ to - ”

but Shin-ah was already shaking his head. After all, he had a job to do, and he would see it through. 

He found Kija not far off, surrounded by several mostly-empty jars and not a few fallen cups, a woman half-sitting on his lap, half holding him up, three more gathered close beside him. There were two blotches of pink high on his cheeks, and he seemed to be struggling to speak. 

“I…. I’m afraid I… what I mean to say is… I told you, I’m already bound to… ‘m otherwise unavailable - ” he let out a little alarmed yelp as the woman placed a shy kiss on his cheek, knocking over another cup with his dragon hand. He seemed to catch sight of Shin-ah there. “Shin-ah! Oh…” laboriously, he extricated himself from the arms of his several suitors. “I’m terribly sorry, it was a great delight to meet you all, but I have to, uh…” he gestured weakly to Shin-ah. “Important… dragon business. Very urgent…”

He nearly tripped up over his robes as he came over, but Shin-ah steadied him with a hand, Ao jumping over to Kija’s shoulder. “ _Thank you_ ” said Kija, with feeling. “You saved me.”

He patted Kija awkwardly on the shoulder. “Here. Have this.”

Kija looked up at him with earnest eyes as Shin-ah offered him a cake. “Sh-Shin-ah, you’re so good” he mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs, swaying a little. Shin-ah was alarmed to see their were tears in his eyes. “M… m’so glad I got to meet you… the Princess… we’re so lucky to be the ones… J… Jae-ha doesn’t know, he doesn’t understand, if he doesn’t come with us then he’ll have lost… so much…” Kija straightened up then, seeming to notice what he was eating. “S’good!” he said in wonder, his eyes wide. “Did you… did you make this Shin-ah?”

Shin-ah shook his head, confused. “A… gift.”

“Mmph” said Kija, finishing his sweet cake and looking back at the women who were still waiting for him, back at the table. “Ah… they all want me to marry them, Shin-ah. All of them! I mean…” he frowned, as though in deep thought, maybe I shouldn’t have said… shouldn’t have told them that Ha - _hic!_ \- Hakuryuu have many wives in order to produce a successor… think they… misunderstood a bit…” he winced. “Look, they even braided my hair for the wedding!” He plucked at the end of the long tail at the back of his hair, which was indeed braided, a pink flower slipped through the cord that tied it at the end. “There was nothing I could… I was powerless to stop them… but I have to serve the Princess, Shin-ah! You… you understand. You…”

Shin-ah let Kija lean against him - hugging him at intervals - until the women seemed to lose interest and drift off. But by then, Kija was already more than half asleep, so Shin-ah sat him back down with his head on the table - as they were lacking any beds out here save those in Yoon’s impromptu medical tent - and, as soon as he was certain Kija was snoring peacefully, tiptoed quietly away, basket in hand, Ao scampering after him. 

Hak stood a little way off from the main party. It was late now, and the musicians had mostly packed up their instruments and the celebrations had calmed down some. But Shin-ah could hear the sound of the erhu, that strange long-necked instrument Jae-ha played, drifting out into the warm night air from the top of the cliffs, a little way off the main harbour. He could see Jae-ha too, as well as the careful figure of Yona climbing up to sit beside him. He watched as the music stopped, Yona taking up the instrument for a moment, Jae-ha cringing a little at her playing. He couldn’t hear the words they were saying, but he could see them easily enough, and they looked - in this moment - safe and content. 

Hak was waiting at the bottom of the path, his glaive in his hand. He probably wouldn’t be able to see them, Shin-ah knew, which might be why he seemed so tense. 

“Shin-ah” Hak said. “If you’re looking for Yona, she went up there to visit that Droopy Eyes, and I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” He smiled wryly. “You may be called upon to defend her, just to warn you. Don’t let your dragon brotherhood or whatever it is stop you.”

“She’s… safe” said Shin-ah softly. He knew that much by instinct alone. “Don’t… worry.”

Hak ran a hand through his hair. “Ah, well. Worrying is what I do.”

They stood in silence for a little while longer, looking out at the sea, before Shin-ah remembered and offered Hak the basket of cakes. Hak eyed them suspiciously. “What is it?”

“A gift…. you eat it.”

Hak smiled a little, and nodded. “Well, I guessed that much.” He took a cake and tasted it, his face twisting a little. “Mmm. Honey cake. Ah. Thank you Shin-ah.” He seemed to be looking at something far away, as other people often did when they were remembering something. He sighed, his shoulders dropping a little. “Thank you.”

Shin-ah tilted his head, questioningly. 

Hak turned to him. “…I mean it though. Thank you, Shin-ah. For this and… for keeping her safe.” He nodded, and Shin-ah realised the the flask of sake strung about Hak’s wrist was just emptied enough to make Hak speak a lot more than he usually would though. Shin-ah looked back at him, waiting for more. “Thank you” Hak repeated. “That’s… that’s all, really.”

“Shin-ah?”

A voice made him turn. There was Yona, coming down the path, her face breaking into a smile. 

“Hak! Shin-ah! I’m so glad you’re here.” She smiled up at the sky, and at the cliff where she had left Jae-ha. “It’s been such a lovely night… for all of us.”

He nodded. “Yona” said Shin-ah, holding out the basket to her. “For you.”

“For me?” her eyes lit up. “Oh, Shin-ah, it’s delicious!” she said, biting into a cake. Her smile, as always, made a glow of warmth start in his chest. “It was a gift? The people of Awa are so kind, aren’t they Hak?” she looked up at him. “I’m… I’m glad we could help them.”

Shin-ah nodded. He was glad of that, too. 

The sun was starting to rise again, as Hak half-carried a stumbling, sleepy Yona to the camp, a little outside the town. 

That left Shin-ah on his own, and for a while he was slightly at a loss for what to do. He was tired, yes, but he didn’t want to go to sleep just yet. Ao was asleep, curled up in the fur at his shoulder, and he ran his fingers over the soft coat on her back as he walked back up the little rise behind him, to the outskirts of the town. 

There was one cake left in his basket, and something was bothering him. 

Specifically, some _one_ was bothering him. 

When first he had set out with the others, he had thought he was imagining it. But as he had learned from Kija what the connections between the four dragons meant, as he had practiced using that connection in the search for Jae-ha… well, he had come to notice something else. 

As well as the white and green presences - like glowing patches of light at the edges of his mind - there was another light, a golden-yellow one. There always had been, he now realised, though when he was young he had not known any of these feelings for what they truly were. 

But it was there, and since he had left the village with Yona and the others, it had seemed to grow closer and closer. 

It was Ouryuu; he knew it had to be. But he couldn’t fault Kija for going after the green glow of Ryokuryuu first; however much Jae-ha tried to hide and cloak his presence and misdirect them, he was still much clearer than this. Jae-ha’s hiding had been rather clumsily done in comparison in fact; the presence of Ouryuu was so subtle that he could barely detect it save for the barest flicker of gold, some days when he concentrated hard, and sometimes not at all. 

Yet tonight, that presence was here, and stronger than ever. 

Still, if Ouryuu had been near them all this time, then why had Shin-ah not seen him? That was the thing that bothered him most; there were ways to hide from the gaze of Seiryuu - for one, simply standing behind him, or moving while he was asleep, or distracted - but very few people seemed to think of this, and besides, it would be very difficult to always maintain such cover, while still following so close. A lot of thought and planning would have to go into such an elaborate deception - and a lot of knowledge of his power - and Shin-ah didn’t understand how that could be, let alone  _why_. 

Yet still, the presence was not a threatening one. He did not feel anything like afraid, that much he knew. If anything it felt familiar, warm as the glow of the sun after the darkness underground.

And if Kija and Jae-ha were his friends, he reasoned, then couldn’t Ouryuu be too, wherever he was?

He came to deserted side-street on the very edge of Awa, and stood with his back against the wall, frowning as he reached out to that golden light, dancing just outside of his grasp. Even when he looked through the walls of the houses, none of the people there seemed to match what he sought. 

There were birds on the roof here, white birds that cooed softly in the blue predawn glow of the sky. They sat on the rooftops on either side, the slightest of sea breezes ruffling their feathers. 

Shin-ah looked down at the last fire cake in his basket. He looked at the birds. He looked at the street, turning slowly in a full circle.

He had an idea. 

Slowly, making sure to look down all the while, he placed the basket down in the middle of the alleyway, before straightening up, speaking as loudly and clearly as he could. “For Ouryuu.”

Then he turned his back and walked away, out of the alley, marching purposefully down the street. 

He was barely around the corner when he heard the sound of birds. Immediately the little flock of white birds were taking flight, soaring over his head from behind him and down the hill towards the sea. _As though they had been disturbed by something._

 _Or someone_. 

For a moment, Shin-ah froze where he stood, looking straight forward to the white specks against the glow of morning at the horizon. 

Then he turned back, peering through the corner of the closest house, barely knowing what to expect. 

There was no one there. 

He frowned, actually turning the corner and going back into the alley, lifting his mask just to convince himself his eyes weren’t failing him. But it was as he thought; there was no one there, the basket still sitting there on the ground as he had left it.

 _No, wait. Not quite as he had left it_. 

Shin-ah caught his breath, then smiled.

The basket was empty. 


End file.
